The ‘Love Is Blind’ bean dip joke, explained

Season 6 of Love is Blind is as dramatic as ever, and things are only ramping up. The second portion of the season released on Feb. 21 to an eager audience, and saw as the couples shifted from the warm glow of their collective honeymoon into the harsh reality of the real world.

Before they could even return to their regular lives, however, things were starting to take a turn. In the sixth episode of the season, titled “Feeling Uncomfy,” what started as a joke quickly blossomed into jealousy and irritation, and led to arguments between several of the cast members.

It was all prompted by a pod joke between the girls which, once it spread to the guys, became a much bigger issue. Many viewers have likely never heard the term “bean dip” before, but any girl with locker room experience has plenty of background on the act itself.

What does “bean dip” mean?

The actual term used for the poorly delivered “joke” seen in episode 6 is unfamiliar to me, but once AD described it, I knew exactly what she was talking about. But first, some background. It’s clear that Laura introduced the other girls to the concept of “bean dip” while in the pods, and — among friendly women — it was nothing more than a funny quirk.

The idea behind Laura’s bean dip is simple: It’s just smacking another woman’s breast. Not hard, necessarily, but once up, and then from the side or top, in a quick double-hit reminiscent of a cat. Or… maybe someone grabbing bean dip? I’m not sure where the correlation lies.

Regardless, anyone who participated in a sport or grew up with older sisters has likely had her knockers knocked around once or twice, and — for those okay with it — its a funny, if occasionally painful, exchange. Once men get in on it, however, the lighthearted humor tends to disappear.

That’s where the problem arose on Love is Blind. Laura had clearly educated the other women on “bean dip” ahead of their honeymoons, and at some point she clued her fiancé, Jeramey, in on the joke. That’s all well and good, but where Laura slipped up was in encouraging Jeramey to give AD a good bean dipping. That would have been hugely inappropriate, particularly during both of their honeymoons, and thankfully, Jeramey realized that.

What he didn’t realize, however, was that he would still cause problems by bringing it up. He mentioned Laura’s request to AD and her fiancé, clearly intending it as a joke, but Clay was not pleased at the thought. He mentioned to Laura that, while AD was not offended, he was, and the resulting argument soured the events of the evening.

At the end of the day, the “bean dip” joke is silly, immature, and relatively harmless, but it’s easy to see how bringing it up in that environment went poorly. Ladies, its probably fine if you’d like to try the move — with consent — on your female friends, but maybe don’t make things awkward by bringing it up in public.

Laura’s response to the “bean dip” fallout

The entire bean dip incident largely faded into the background of Love is Blind season 6 by the latter half of the season, but Laura did address the backlash it spurred during her appearance at the reunion. At the tail end of her cameo in the reunion, Laura took time to apologize to both AD and Clay for being part of the issue in the first place.

Admitting to being a “goofball,” Laura notes that she meant “no disrespect” with the joke, and emphasized how sorry she was to have shown any disrespect to AD. Highlighting that she loves both AD and Clay to bits, Laura polished off her apology by stating that “it was a joke that was just taken completely out of context and I’m sorry.”